Chapter Eighteen

November Showers

      In a burst of fiery energy in Shawn’s backyard, Kenny and Christian appeared within some shrubs in the middle of the night, the Protector laughing. Kenny shushed him but burst through the back door screaming for Shawn. He began knocking vigorously on his bedroom, screaming his name at the top of his lungs while Christian tried to get him to calm down.

      “SHAWN!”

      “WHAT?!”

      Both of them spun around in fright toward the kitchen opening before Kenny quickly regained his composure and marched toward his best friend.

      “How long were you going to keep it from me, huh?”

      “What are you talking about and get the f**k out of my face!”

      “Where’d you get your gun from, Shawn?”

      “Work.”

      “Bullshit! Where’d you get your gun from, Shawn, and I’d advise you to think about your answer this time.”

      Christian had pried his body between the two as Shawn began clutching his fist.

      “What the hell are you going to do if I don’t f*****g answer you?”

      “Just answer the goddamn question!” Kenny pushed Christian’s arm out the way, “And you’re no better either acting like you don’t know each other.”

      “Kenny, really, what are you talking about?” But before Shawn could even finish the question, Kenny had landed a punch to the side of his face causing him to stagger backwards.

      “WHOA! OKAY!” Christian screamed, holding Kenny down on the stool and Shawn away from striking back, “Shawn, he’s apparently mad at the fact that you were Jack’s Protector and we never told him.”

      “What? Really?! Is that why you clocked me?”

      “We’ve been best friends since two f*****g years old! Why did you let me deal with this alone?! When I needed you to understand me more than anyone.”

      Shawn sighed.

      “I wasn’t allowed to interfere with your epiphany. Manifest Destiny or some s**t like that.”

      “Uh, Manifest Destiny was the term used in the nineteenth century during a period of American expansion that claimed that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast.”

      Kenny and Shawn blankly looked up at Christian simultaneously.

      “Sorry, Percy talks a lot.”

      “A Brit knows more about American History than me.” Shawn scoffed, “But whatever, Jack never needed me anyways. He was always sending me on vacations to Tahiti or New Zealand or somewhere similar unless it was a day he was trying out a new weapon.”

      “Pretty much.” Christian agreed, slightly daydreaming at the memories.

      “That’s a shame you don’t know your own country’s history.” Kenny rebutted, as his Protector had lessened his hold on the two, “But, um, sorry for swinging on you.”

      “Oh yeah,” Shawn punched Kenny hard in the stomach, knocking the air out of him, “Never aim for the face, dude. It’s my money maker. But anyways, I’m going to bed, yes, I accept your apology and ow.”

      He rubbed the side of his face as he scurried off to his room, leaving Kenny keeled over and Christian rubbing his back with a distressed face toward his Custody.

      “Feel better?” He sardonically questioned, “Just breathe slowly. You’ll get your air back eventually.”

 

      Before the sun rose the next morning, Kenny was unable to sleep in from the rummage his brother was doing from the bathroom to the closet, with the beaming light from the hallway peering into the open door. There was a small lock box on the dresser while four suitcases were opened and sprawled out on the floor; two full with clothes, one with wrapped gifts and the other were shoes. Malcolm had on only green sweatpants and socks when Kenny sat up and groaned looking at the time.

      “Why are you up at five in the morning packing? I thought your plane leaves late this afternoon?”

      “I was out all night screwing some chick I met in the Square and forgot I never packed so now I am rushing to have it all ready to go before I leave for the airport.”

      “You accumulated that much crap in the little time you’ve been here?” Kenny wiped his eyes and yawned.

      Malcolm sighed embarrassedly and tossed a pair of purple running shoes in the suitcase.

      “Flea markets are my weakness.”

      “Just like granny,” Kenny sleepily turned over and wrapped himself under the cover but his brother yanked it off suddenly.

      “No, I need your help so come on, get the lead out.”

      “Also something she’d say.”

      “Just help me, please.”

      Kenny looked around the room.

      “You look almost done to me.”

      “Kenny!”

      He gave a loud groan and rolled out of bed very slowly.

      “I need coffee first then.”

      “Already got Starbucks right here.” Malcolm seemed to pull the coffee out his back but Kenny was still half sleep the bedroom light was cut on, the hallway light cut off and then the door shut. Prince’s Delirious was softly playing on the radio as the sweet mocha drink began to perk him up to notice his clothes being packed.

      “Hey, so um, you know you’re packing my clothes, right?”

      His brother didn’t respond but disappeared into the closet and started ruffling through random boxes.

      “Don’t ignore me, Mal, you know-” Kenny had walked over to fuss at his older brother but he was greeted by a neat, organized closet full with racks of new clothes and shoes. There were flannel shirts in every color and pattern he could think of and more different pair of slacks and jeans that was folded in three piles, working on the fourth. Neckties, bowties and suspenders hung against the back of the door and the family picture he sat on his window-sill was nailed to the front of it.

      “I was so high off of acid and marijuana, dude. Good times.” Malcolm reminisced before catching himself, “Say no to drugs of course!”

      “This was the day after our parents converted to Christianity.”

      “They thought this picture was the first step to Christ. Hence the reason I was stoned.”

      Kenny chuckled but was still in awe at his new wardrobe. But anything else could be said, he sprung into a hug around his towering brother’s waist and buried the side of his face into his squished arm.

      “Thank you.”

      “Aw, you’re my little brother, I have to look out for you. Nice necklace by the way. Where’d you get it from?”

      He slapped his hand onto the earth pendant and exhaled a relief as Malcolm tapped him on his shoulder, sipping his sugarless, creamless coffee.

      “Where’d you get it?” He loudly whispered.

      “Uh, Christian gave it to me yesterday. He said it would keep me safe from harm outside the house.”

      “Good,” His brother turned and walked toward the bathroom, “Make sure you keep it on then. I can’t keep flying back and forth for you, then what would Marty think?”

      “He would think he has mom and dad all to himself now.”

      Malcolm laughed and brought out some old towels out and tossed him into an open suitcase.

      “Did you know that he went and got this haircut and then jheri curled it, telling everyone that he invented the look? I’m like, dude, I was a child when that hairstyle was fly.”

      Kenny closed the closet and went to sit on his bed.

      “You can’t tell Martin anything. Remember being seventeen and thinking we knew everything because we thought we were grown?”

      “Oh, no, my friend, that was only you.”

      “What?!”

      “Why do you think you and Marty fight all the time? You guys are carbon copies of each other. Everything you had, he wanted. Everything you did, he mimicked. So when he watched you stomp out and rebel against our parents, can you guess what he did?”

      “Rebelled?”

      “Bingo, give the man a prize!” Kenny watched his brother enter and exit the bathroom a dozen times with something new in his hand, “And he did it in the worst way too. At least you just moved out with a few choice words I might add, but he stole mom’s car in the middle of the night and got drunk with his buddies in the school parking lot.”

      “Wow.” Kenny gulped his Starbucks as rubber ducks were thrown into packing.

      “At three in the morning.”

      “WOW!”

      “And then one year, he got a hold of meth and ran around the neighborhood naked, screaming and banging on people’s doors.”

      “I think I remember hearing about that. Wasn’t I living out there then?”

      “Yeah, it happened the night you returned.” Malcolm tossed a few toiletries in the lightest suitcase full of gifts and began zipping them up, “But me, I was the golden child.”

      “Puh-leese! I remember hearing about how in high school you always, always every single year got suspended for fighting-”

      “The dude on the baseball team was banging my chick.”

      “Every year?” Kenny said with snide.

      “Yeah!”

      “Suspended for cheating.”

      “The FCAT was difficult.”

      “They only issue that test once in your high school life, dear brother.”

      “All the others were accidents.”

      “Vandalism?!”

      “It was a senior prank.”

      “You were never a senior for four years, Mal.”

      “I hung with a lot of seniors each year, jeeze. Get off my back. Some of us had lives in high school.”

      “Whatever you need to tell yourself.”

      Kenny shook his head and laid back against the window, but not before glancing back across the street at the no longer abandoned house. He fiddled with his necklace with a cute smile starting to curl when he heard Malcolm zip up the last suitcase and hopped on the bed beside him.

      “Who has you blushing right now? That Christian, dude?”

      “No,” Kenny lied softly but his brother spun him around so they both were on their stomachs, looking out the window into the dark morning. Street lights were still bright against the fog that had settled and the Whitley brothers stared at the house across the street.

      “How does he make you feel?”

      He was at a loss for words because he never tried to put how he felt into words. It was always an emotion he felt.

      “Why?”

      “Because I know how you are.”

      “How am I?”

      “You fall too quickly in love with guys without ever building a foundation to let that love grow. You live your life on emotion and intuition which is fine but this time, I think, will be different. How close was I?”

      Kenny sucked his teeth and rested his chin on his folded arms. Christian’s house looked so dark under the shadow of the trees and the dim moonlight.

      “Different how?”

      “I don’t know. But we’ll see won’t we? Just…don’t rush anything with him. Let it flow and grow naturally. I actually want to see him around more.”

      This statement made him blush and smile even more. Everyone he dated in the past someone in his life hated; William was hated by everyone toward the end but Shawn hated him from the start, his ex Dax was hated by Tonya and Richard was stalked and jumped by Malcolm. But he noticed that everyone loves Christian, and they aren’t even dating.

      “He smells like a field of lilacs dancing with patches of lavender.”

      “Sometimes, you’re very gay.”

      “Sometimes, you’re very…”

      “Wait for it.”

      “Straight.”

      “Happy you said it now? Does it give you a superior-?”

      Kenny knocked his brother in the head with the nearest pillow but Malcolm had snatched it from him and returned the pillow hit with several of his own. They both laughed very hard when the pillow burst into a cloud of feathers.

      “I heard you punched Shawn last night.” Malcolm stated, catching his breath, “And you talk about me fighting.”

      “We didn’t fight. I just…”

      “Clocked him right in the blinders?” He laughed again, “I saw the bruise when he left this morning for work after that hot chick dropped me off. Big tits. Nice p***y.” He gave an okay sign to his brother.

      “MAL!”

      “Anyways, he told me you did it. Seemed a little proud when he said it, come to think of it.”

      Kenny huffed and turned over on his back, staring aimlessly at the ridged ceiling. He rested his arms under his head as he began talking.

      “You have to keep this between you and me.”

      “Who would I tell? It’s not like I’m running home to gossip about the conversations we have to anyone there.”

      “Shawn is like Christian.”

      “Since when did he convert from being agnostic?”

      “No, he is like Christian. Meaning he protects people like me, with special abilities.”

      Malcolm fell into an aimless stare out the window himself. There was a moment of silence with only a soft dripping noise echoing from the bathroom. The sky had begun to brighten softly with only a few street lights shutting off.

      “It’s like I’m living in a comic book.” Malcolm said to himself.

      “How do you think I feel? Waking up one morning with the ability to manipulate energy and then getting the knowledge that I have always had it.”

      His brother sat up suddenly, causing Kenny to roll to his side in question.

      “You hungry?” Malcolm asked, pulling on a pair of socks from the floor. Kenny nodded slowly as his brother reached back and pulled him fully up.

      “There’s a whole closet full of new clothes. Come on and get dressed.”

     

      After thirty minutes of getting ready and waiting on a cab, they arrived at IHOP a little ways down the street. It was remotely empty with little American flags on each table as the sun was barely breaking into the cloudy sky and the crowded streets were brawling with blaring horns. A family of small infants had just been seated when Malcolm and Kenny received their food. A plate of cream cheese crepes slathered with strawberry glaze was placed in front of Kenny while his brother had a small plate of egg whites, a Cobb salad and a tuna melt.

      There was a distance sound of dishes banging together coming from the kitchen as the young Indian waitress sat an elderly couple in the middle of the restaurant. Malcolm had cut into his eggs and placed them on the tuna melt when the drinks were refilled by the same waitress. 

      “So now that you have food in your stomach,” Kenny began, cutting a small piece of crepe with the edge of this fork, “Are you going to tell me why you clammed up in the room earlier?”

      His brother cleared his throat and then drank a large portion of his Sprite.

      “So are you going to finish school this time?”

      Kenny groaned and ate another piece.

      “Yes. After having a man you dated-” He hushed his voice, “try to kill you, you tend to put other things into a little perspective.”

      Malcolm nodded.

      “And what about your…condition?”

      Now Kenny sat back and let out a low moan. He wanted to live in denial that this thing wasn’t even real inside him. He felt cursed to live with such an antigay disease and only shuttered to think how the rest of his family would take to the news. That was something he didn’t want to deal with sitting at the table while worrying about his own health. He didn’t have insurance or even a primary doctor and was very hesitant about going to see the doctors at the free clinic. Maybe he would wake up tomorrow and it would all be a dream.

      “I’ll figure it out.” He lied.

      “Well get on meds as quickly as you can.”

      Kenny frowned.

      “You make it sound so easy to just walk into CVS Pharmacy and order a thirty day supply of HIV meds.”

      “Well, it’s easier than it was in Magic Johnson’s day.”

      “God, if I hear that damn comparison one more time! That man has MILLIONS to spend on his health. Come talk to me about the normal poor person who doesn’t have two grand a month to spend on pills.”

      “Two grand?! A month?”

      “What’d you think it would be without insurance in the great ol’ country of America?”

      Malcolm shrugged and pushed his empty plate to the edge of the table.

      “At least a hundred or two.”

      Kenny sniggered and shook his head, finishing his meal as well.

      “Let’s just hope whoever the new president will be will do something about this little nonexistent universal health care system.”

      Malcolm smiled back at his brother with a proud look on his face. They shared a bonding moment before the waitress brought the check. After they saw the first showing of the fifth installment of Saw and Kenny ran off to vote, Malcolm met up with a random blonde woman he charmed in the voting line while waiting for his brother. So Kenny rode the train up to his school to turn in an overdue assignment he had let slip his mind.

      His teacher looked to be in his late thirties and was an average height, skinny dark skinned male with two scars on the back of his head. He was packing up his leather briefcase in an empty classroom when Kenny crept in silently, his paper clutched in his fist.

      “Here’s my late work, Mr. Hatfield.”

      “Thanks, Kenny but please, call me Garison.” He took the paper and stuffed it in his briefcase

      There was only silence and an awkward smile across Kenny’s face as he slowly nodded and turned to leave. Garison quickly zipped up his bag and jogged up to catch Kenny, who was already at the door.

      “Hey, so I just wanted to ask you if you’re maybe were free to grab lunch tomorrow?”

      Kenny stopped dead in his tracks outside the classroom, the sun still struggling to shine through the clouds.

      “Are you asking me on a date?”

      “Uh,” He scratched the back of his head, “Yes?”

      “Then I’d love to.”

      Garison smiled widely.

      “I’ll pick you up around noon since there’s no class tomorrow?”

      “Sure.”

      And once the two exchanged numbers, his teacher disappeared into the crowd of students. Kenny was feeling very attractive throughout the rest of the day even when he, Shawn and Tonya dropped Malcolm off at the Oakland International Airport. He gave everyone a hug goodbye before pulling Kenny over to the side of the vehicle. The small lockbox was clutched down at his side while valets took his luggage inside.

      “Are you going to finish school and maybe get a job during?”

      “Uh, of course. To both.”

      “And you’re going to take care of yourself, right?”

      “Yes, Mal.” Kenny said with a hint of impatience.

      “No more giving your heart to other guys freely, correct?”

      Kenny nodded and leaned mostly on his left leg while crossing his arms. Suddenly, Malcolm stuffed the lockbox in his brother’s grasp.

      “Then here, champ, it’s yours. A quarter of a mil.”

      “A QUARTER OF A-!”

      Malcolm slapped Kenny on the side of his head and reminded him that he was still in an airport.

      “I’m stopping your allowances, c’mon that’s what it is, and instead this will get you till you’re done with school or hopefully working before then.”

      Kenny was speechless, looking dreamily at the small black box in his hold. His brother snickered and pulled him into a hug.

      “I love you, man.”

      “I love you, too.”

 

      Light rain had begun to fall as the sun had started to set on the historic Election night. Junior, Tonya and Christian were sitting shouting at the television in the living room of Kenny’s place. Shawn was in the kitchen, refreshing his drink while Kenny was bringing in a plate of crust-less BLT sandwiches. The current update from Junior who checking his cellphone was that Barack Obama was leading John McCain while the news reporters were giving a history lesson on this historic day.

      Shawn was the only one not rooting at the television and had begun to feed the fish in the aquarium when he looked back behind him in confusion.

      “Christian, you’re the only one that lives in your place right?” He asked over the commotion.

      “Yeah, why?” Christian looked behind him to see a light in his house shut off, causing him to shoot up on his feet with the room falling quiet. Only the sound of the news reporters were heard. Kenny had stood as well but his Protector shook his head.

      “Stay here. I don’t know who that is.”

      Shawn was loading his gun that he pulled from behind his back while Kenny protested.

      “You know, two against one is always better.”

      “Make that three.” Shawn added.

      “Wait what’s going on?” Tonya said with confusion.

      “Nothing!” Christian shouted, when he noticed the light go off and other come on, “I’m just going across the street to check on my house. This is Oakland after all.”

      Before anyone could ask any more questions, he had vanished out the house with Kenny and Shawn creeping behind him. They noticed Tonya and Junior peeking out the window while trying to keep an eye on the screen.

      Another light came on before all of them shutting off when Christian approached his front door. They entered the dark house with caution, Shawn had his gun ready and Kenny had grabbed a large stick, with Christian softly stepping around the semi-open layout. There were half walls that separated the living room from the dining room but that just made it even more difficult to see. The rain had started to pick up, making patter noises on the roof when suddenly there came a small sinister laugh in the shadows and the all the windows in the house combusted with force, sending shattered fragments of glass around them.

      Christian had covered himself and Kenny and Shawn had ducked just in time as all the lights came on at the same time. The laugh came again, this time it wasn’t small but masculine and evil.

      “Show your face, b*****d!” The Protector yelled.

      “Come out now! FBI!” Shawn added, aiming his gun in every direction, to which Kenny rolled his eyes. Then there came a shadow that swept across the floor and under the front door when it splintered and blew apart.

      A man, same height as Kenny and slightly darker complexion, stood with a vindictive smile on his smooth flawless face. His outfit was dressed to the nines, complete with a small top hat and a gold top cane, purely for show and his wavy black hair receded perfectly in the wind.

      “Is that anyway to greet me, Andre?”

      Kenny looked between the guy and Christian, who was looking as if he was staring at a ghost. He was frozen in shock and hadn’t taken his eyes off the guy even as he walked up to his chest and caressed it.

      “Christian, who is this? And why is he calling you Andre?” Kenny demanded but the guy simply chuckled lightly and smiled toward him.

      “You must be the little power bottom that is trying to slip up on Andre.”

      “Excuse me?” Kenny gritted his teeth and stepped into the guys face, “What did you call me?”

      Shawn had pried himself between the two with Christian still frozen in his deep confusion and shock.

      “I’m sorry I do not stutter nor do I repeat myself. You may want to get that checked out. But please, be gentlemen, and leave me to my fiancé.”

      “FIANCE?!” Both Shawn and Kenny exclaimed, now looking up at Christian for answers. But the guy, picking up on their suspension, smiled even more, turned around and kissed Christian on the lips. That’s when he found the moment to move and he pushed the guy off of him hesitantly.

      The guy merely touched his lips softly and then extended his hand toward Kenny.

      “Where are my manners?” he started in a fake polite giggle, “I’m Clarkson Haverford and Andre and I have been engaged for years. I’d invite you to the wedding but I’m afraid only family is allowed.”

      The silence and shock from Christian was all Kenny needed to witness before turning around, angrier than he has ever been, and storming out the messed up house into the pouring rain. He turned back once, with Shawn at his heel, to notice Christian in the doorway with guilt on his face and Clarkson waving vindictively.

      Kenny slammed the door shut over Junior cheering that Obama had won.